The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is making its presence felt in Vietnam's hot-rolled coil markets, with sentiment in the major importing nation taking a hit in the past week.Fastmarkets' steel HRC import, cfr Vietnam assessment, which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam, was $470-472 per tonne cfr for the week ending Monday March 3,...Read More
China's export price of electronic manganese flake dropped by $60-150 per tonne on Friday February 28 after overseas buyers retreated on sufficient stocks and expectations supply will improve now that producers in southwest China are resuming operations, market sources said.Fastmarkets assessed the price of manganese 99.7% electrolytic manganese flake, fob China at $1,700-1,850 per tonne on F...Read More
The price of European aluminium ingot 226 continued to climb on Friday February 28 due to strong domestic demand amid concerns that the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Italy could hamper production in the region, leaving a tight market with inadequate supply. Fastmarkets assessed the price of aluminium diecasting ingot DIN226/A380, delivered Europe at ?,?1,420-1,480 ($1,566-1,6...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices edged up (apart from in Turkey) in the week to Friday February 28, mainly due to a rise in freight rates, with many market participants reporting weak trading activity.Turkish import scrap prices dip as bookings slowUS export scrap prices remain largely stableFreight costs continue to push up prices in Taiwan and VietnamIndian import prices steady on lackluster salesTur...Read More
Bangladesh steel producer GPH Ispat has begun trial production at its new electric arc furnace (EAF) in Kumira, Chattogram state, market sources told Fastmarkets.The EAF will have capacity of 800,000-900,000 tonnes per year, according to a Bangladeshi source. That will take GPH's overall steelmaking capacity above 1 million tpy.GPH Ispat's new mill will produce billet to be further transformed int...Read More
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Brazilian Mining Association (IBRAM) that seeks to increase investment in the Brazilian mining sector over the coming years.The signing of the MOU, which coincided with the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention, is expected to open up opportunities for exp...Read More
Developer Wallbridge Mining (TSX: WM) has announced plans to acquire explorer Balmoral Resources (TSX: BAR) in an all-share deal worth $110 million, consolidating the Fenelon gold property, within the Abitibi greenstone belt, to 86 square kilometres."The combination of our two companies creates an entity with a solid balance sheet; a diverse yet focused project portfolio; a motivated management g...Read More
Alrosa, the world's top diamond miner by volume, is betting on a new strategy to boost its sales amid an industry-wide slowdown that has hit small companies the hardest.The Russian state-owned company is now selling naturally occurring fluorescent diamonds mixed with others. At the same time, it's holding talks with global jewellery retailers about jointly marketing its "Luminous Diamonds" brand,...Read More
A day after its shares started trading on the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada Nickel Company (TSXV: CNC) released a maiden resource estimate for the wholly-owned Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project near Timmins, Ontario.The resource features 600.4 million tonnes in the measured and indicated category grading 0.25% nickel and 0.013% cobalt for a total of 1.53 million tonnes nickel and 78,000 tonne...Read More
Rockcliff Metals (CSE: RCLF) has released resource updates for the Tower and Talbot volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits within the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt in Manitoba.At its wholly-owned Tower property, indicated resources are now at 1 million tonnes grading 5.74% copper-equivalent for a total of 129.8 million lb. copper-equivalent, with additional inferred resources of 367,00...Read More
AJN Resources (TSXV: AJN) has dropped plans to acquire 10% of the Kibali gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo from state-owned Soci?(C)t?(C) Mini??re de Kilo-Moto (SOKIMO), after facing stern opposition from Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD), the mine's operator.Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti, which each own 45% of Kibali, said SOKIMO had not consulted nor informed them about the transac...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The supply of rough diamonds must flow freely again when the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, says De Beers boss Bruce Cleaver.In an impassioned open letter, the CEO argues his company has a global, even more than a corporate, responsibility to its workers and customers not to halt production."The continuity of our (mining) operations is central to our people, the local...Read More
Aim-listed diversified miner Vast Resources has commented on articles published in the Zimbabwean press during the last week of April, around the Chiadzwa community concession block joint venture, for which Vast is awaiting finalisation of a mining agreement.The company wishes to mine the Chiadzwa diamond fields, in Zimbabwe, through its subsidiary Katanga Mining, in joint venture with Zimbabwe Co...Read More
Copper stocks at Shanghai bonded warehouses fell in April amid an increase in import activity due to expectations of a cut to China's VAT rate in May and the opening of the arbitrage window between Shanghai and London.Fastmarkets assessed Shanghai bonded copper stocks at 291,000-301,000 tonnes on Thursday April 30, down by 12.7% from 334,000-344,000 tonnes on March 23. "The rumor of a VAT cut enti...Read More
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa has restarted operations at its Lulo diamdond mine, in Angola.Operations at Lulo were reduced in early April to only essential services after a State of Emergency was declared in Angola in order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.AdvertisementOn April 24, a new Presidential Decree amended certain restrictions, allowing essential ind...Read More
The European Commission's (EC) antitrust authorities granted Europe's largest copper smelter Aurubis unconditional approval for the ?,?380 million ($417 million) acquisition of Belgian-Spanish recycler Metallo Group, the company said on Monday May 4.The transaction will formally close on May 29, with Metallo's consolidation into Aurubis taking place on June 1. The investment firm TowerBrook Capita...Read More
Christine Keener has been appointed Alcoa's vice president of operations for Europe and North America, in a new role combining the two operating locations, Fastmarkets understands. The consolidation, effective from Friday May 1, will streamline the management of operating Alcoa's assets and ensuring alignment among common markets, the company said. Keener replaces Jean Francois Cyr and...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Monday May 4, with price action losing some 0.8% against low turnover, while the LME tin price also lost ground over the morning. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $5,065 per tonne, down from Friday's closing price of $5,110 per tonne, while turnover was low over the morning with jus...Read More
Mining and metalworking in Peru will gradually resume in May after a government order on Sunday May 3 targeted key industries for restarts."Exploitation, processing, storage, transportation and closure of mines in the strata of large-scale mining," will be part of an initial phase of business returning to some type of normality, the government said...Read More
Last week's weaker tone in the metals has flowed through into morning trading on Monday May 4, with the three-month base metals on the London Metal Exchange down by an average of 0.6%, led by a 0.9% fall in copper to $5,061 per tonne. With Japan and China closed trading volumes are thin.Market participants likely to focus on European purchasing manager's index (PMI) data and US factory orders. Bas...Read More